The secretary of state has received a $153,000 emergency loan to help pay for maintenance of the paper ballot voting systems used for elections in New Mexico.

The loan is to address complaints from counties about high prices for maintenance charged by the sole vendor of the voting equipment, Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software, known as ES&S.

The state Board of Finance approved the loan Tuesday but Gov. Bill Richardson urged Secretary of State Mary Herrera's staff to work with counties to have them pay a share of the maintenance costs rather than the state picking up the full tab.

The loan will cover six months of maintenance and support for software and firmware for more than 3,000 voting machines, including optical scanners in polling places that tabulate paper ballots and ballot marking machines for people with disabilities.

Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo told the board the office might have found enough money to pay for a full year of maintenance — about $306,000 — but a short-term loan was needed to immediately implement maintenance agreements for all counties until budget analysts could verify adequate money was available. The state will hold its primary election June 3.

Trujillo said interest had not been credited to a fund that previously held election money provided by the federal government. The interest is estimated to total $166,000. That, along with other state money in the fund, could pay for the software maintenance.